Trudon confirmed that the erroneous billing occurred during a digital marketing campaign for the 2016 local government election. According to the establishment, the digital campaign was offered to a number of Trudon customers who were provided the option to opt in or out.

“This is a standard practice,” Trudon argued. Howbeit, revelations emerged that customers who ignored the directive and neither opted in nor out, were categorized as those who opted in.

As such, they were billed for services they didn’t ask for. About 65,000 Telkom clients were involved in the erroneous billing. BuzzSouthAfrica learnt that many of the clients who were erroneously billed tried severally to resolve the problem but couldn’t.

Rapport said it interviewed 11 clients whose accounts were erroneously billed. All of the clients said they were never informed about the services.

Nevertheless, Trudon has promised to conduct an investigation that will help it understand why the clients were erroneously billed.

“Customers who did not respond to the invitation but were billed for the service will be fully refunded,” stated Trudon.

Meanwhile, nobody knows if the many private Telkom clients, who are not Trudon clients but were equally billed for the Trudon service would be refunded as well.